jcem

We report 11 cases of amiodarone-induced hyperthyroidism. We tried to classify them into 2 groups, according to Bartelena et al. (JCEM 81: 2930, 1996). The serum level of interleukin-6 (IL-6) was measured in 7 patients by an immunoenzymometric assay. In type I (cases 1-3) the thyroid was abnormal (goiter, Graves' disease) but IL-6 levels were normal. These cases were successfully managed by the combined use of thionamide drugs (carbimazol or propylthioruacil = PTU) and potassium perchlorate. In type II (case 4), the thyroid seemed to be normal but the serum level of IL-6 was increased, possibly due to a destructive thyroiditis...

Possible data complicating sex hormones, especially testosterone, in the etiology of cardiovascular disease and noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) comes from the much higher rates of cardiovascular disease in men than in women. Pharmacological administration of anabolic steroids to both men and women increases glucose and insulin concentrations and also insulin resistance. In vivo assessment of sex hormones and binding proteins in both premenopausal and postmenopausal women has suggested that increased free testosterone and decreased sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) is associated with higher glucose and insulin concentrations...

Idiopathic oligo-asthenozoospermia is among the most frequent causes of male infertility and has a not very well understood etiopathogenesis. To obtain valuable information about the role of some endocrine factors in the etiology of this kind of infertility, information that is not easy obtain by the traditional analytical methods, we applied some recently proposed mathematical algorithms to analyze with more exactitude the importance of the secretory pulses of three hormones, luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and testosterone (T)...

A study of the pathophysiology in our previously reported case of glucocorticoid-responsive hyperaldosteronism (Case E.H., 17 yrs old, female; JCEM, 28: 1807, 1968), who had undergone a long-term successful treatment for 21 yrs of daily 0.5 mg dexamethasone (Dex), suggested again that the patient had 17 alpha-hydroxylase deficiency (17-OH-D) in the adrenal with minimum enzyme deficiency in the ovary. When Case E.H. was injected with zinc-ACTH for 3 days with daily 0.5 mg Dex administration, plasma levels of 17-deoxy-steroids were moderately or dramatically increased, but those of 17 alpha-hydroxy-steroids (17-OH-steroids) responded poorly or not at all...